Enabling USB 2.0 on a VortexBox Appliance
If you are experiencing very slow backup speeds to an external USB drive on a VortexBox Appliance, it may be due to not having USB 2.0 enabled on the machine. VortexBox Appliances delivered before February 2010 were shipped with an incorrect BIOS setting that did not enable USB 2.0. All USB transfers were done at USB 1.1 speeds, resulting in very slow backups. How Can I Tell If My VBA needs the BIOS change? There are several ways to check: 1. From the VortexBox web GUI, go to the System Status page, and look at the Hardware Information section. At the bottom is a list of USB devices. If you don't see "Linux Foundation 2.0 Root Hub", then you need to do the BIOS change to enable USB 2.0. 2. Login to the VBA as root, and enter the following command: : lspci | grep USB2 You should see the following if USB 2.0 is enabled: : 00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01) If you don't see this, then you need to do the BIOS change. 3. Do a read timing test on your USB drive. Plug the drive into a USB port on the VBA, then enter : hdparm -t /dev/sdb1 If the results of this test show a read speed around 1 MB/sec, you are using USB 1.1 and will have to do the BIOS change to enable USB 2.0. You should repeat the test until you get repeatable results, since the first time you try it, the test may have to wait for the USB drive to spin up, and you'll get a lower read speed as a result. After the BIOS change, this test should show read speeds around 30 MB/sec. Enabling USB 2.0 in the VBA BIOS These instructions were originally posted by tojoko on the VortexBox Forum: http://vortexbox.org/forum/general/improving-usb-transfer-speed-on-vb-appliance I recently purchased VortexBox Appliance. I've been otherwise happy with it, but USB transfer speed was puzzling me. My external hard drive was much slower when connected to VB machine compared to my other computer. I tried different hard drives and even tried upgrading the computer bios. Nothing seemed to help and I was already thinking about giving up, but thanks to this discussion thread: http://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=121564.0 I found the solution! I'm so happy now I thought I'll give advise here to anybody having the same issue. You'll need a keyboard and monitor connected to your VortexBox Appliance, as you need to tinker with the bios setting. Step by step instructions: 1. Start/reboot the machine. 2. Hit Del key to get into bios. 3. Select "Advanced" from the menu, then select "USB Configuration". 4. You should see "USB 2.0 Controller Mode" selection, with ability to select "HiSpeed" and "FullSpeed". You should select the "HiSpeed" option. 5. If you cannot see the "USB 2.0 Controller Mode" selection, you need to do the following: 5a. Press Esc key to get back to "Advanced" menu, and then select "Exit" menu. 5b. In the "Exit" menu select "Load Optimal Defaults", and select "Ok" from confirmation dialog. 5c. Go back to "Advanced" menu, and select "USB Configuration". 5d. You should see "USB 2.0 Controller Mode" selection now, with ability to select "HiSpeed" and "FullSpeed". You should select the "HiSpeed" option. 6. Press Esc key to get back to "Advanced" menu, and then select "Exit" menu. 7. Select "Save Changes and Exit", and select "Ok" from confirmation dialog. 8. Enjoy faster USB transfer speed! Category:Content Category:Browse